Chapter 128: Tracking the Female Thief

"What? What happened?"

Ye Da looked at Chu Ping with a feigned expression of confusion. "Chu Ping, did you have a nightmare?"

"Hiss, that hurts." Chu Ping rubbed his face and said, "Yes, Lord, I think I had a nightmare. In the dream, someone slapped me, and it still hurts after waking up."

"You just recovered from being poisoned, so it's normal for your whole body to ache." Ye Da looked at the red slap mark on Chu Ping's face. He felt fortunate that there were no mirrors around; he desperately wanted to laugh, but he couldn't.

Therefore, with a benevolent, fatherly smile, he took out a vial of life potion and said, "Drink this, and let's go!"

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Ping was so moved that his eyes grew moist. "Master, I've already had three vials of life potion from you today. You’re still willing to give me... I..."

"Potions are meant to be drunk. Why else would I make them, as ornaments?" Ye Da dismissed the concern without a second thought. "Drink up and let's move out. I still have to get back what belongs to me!"

"Can we still track her?"

Chu Ping was skeptical, but when Ye Da had Little White sniff the path the woman had taken while fleeing...

Little White immediately accelerated and began tracking into the distant woods!

Only then did Chu Ping believe that what his master said was true—he could actually track that woman!

But just as the two of them and the two dogs were sprinting through the woods in a certain direction...

"Drip!"

A cold drop of water landed on the top of Ye Da's head. He looked up...

Then, another drop landed right in his eye, sliding down his cheek like a tear!

It was raining?

The snow hadn't even melted yet; how could it be raining?

But as Ye Da watched the increasingly dense curtain of rain, he realized those droplets were indeed rain—ice-cold, freezing rain. It felt colder than snow, the kind of chill that could freeze a person solid.

The weather in this Fog World was truly bizarre!

"Drip, drip... pitter-patter!"

Soon, the rain merged into a sheet. As the downpour intensified, Little White went from confident to confused, then completely at a loss.

It wasn't just the dog; Little Gray also sniffed around everywhere before shaking its head at Ye Da, indicating that the scent had been washed away by the rain and was no longer detectable.

"Lord, what do we do now?" Chu Ping asked.

Ye Da frowned. This rain had come far too suddenly. He had been so close—just a little bit closer and he would have tracked her down!

"Sniff, sniff!"

Ye Da tried to twitch his nose like the wolf pups, but he could only smell the scent of damp earth and cold air. It was the smell of the rain melting the snow and soaking into the ground.

"Lord, can you also determine locations with your nose?" Chu Ping watched Ye Da standing perfectly still and felt a sense of wonder. Could it be that the Lord possessed animal-like abilities?

Just as Chu Ping was puzzled, Ye Da suddenly stared in one direction and said, "Found her!"

"Huh?!"

Now, it wasn't just Chu Ping who was shocked; even the wolf pups were stunned. They hadn't expected Ye Da's nose to be sharper than theirs. If that were the case, what use were they?

"This way!"

Ye Da wasn't actually relying on his sense of smell; he was using his Analysis Glasses to see the location of the treehouse where the woman was hiding. He didn't have time to explain, so he just marched through the rain toward the treehouse.

This was the benefit of the end of the novice protection period: the residences of all players were no longer hidden. Even this little thief's treehouse was fully exposed under the lenses of his Analysis Glasses. Although the woman was clever enough to hang vines to cover the gaps in the treehouse, unfortunately for her, she had encountered Ye Da.

"Bang!"

As soon as Ye Da reached the treehouse, he didn't say a word; he activated his petrification ability and smashed his fist into it.

Chu Ping watched as Ye Da suddenly swung his hand at the trunk of a massive tree, feeling completely bewildered. To him, the tree looked entirely ordinary, aside from being large. It was covered in old vines and didn't look like a treehouse at all. Was the Lord not worried about hitting the wrong one?

"Ah!!!"

Before Chu Ping’s internal questioning could finish, he heard a woman's scream from inside the tree.

Now it was Chu Ping's turn to be stunned. The Lord had... actually guessed right? Did he really have a dog's nose? How incredible!

"Heh, hello there!"

Ye Da smashed the wooden door of the treehouse open, reached inside, unlatched it, and strode in. "Since you dared to steal my things, you should have expected me to come knocking, right?"

"Now that I’m here, what are you screaming for? I haven't even done anything to you yet!"

Brown curly hair, phoenix eyes with a tear mole, and that slightly icy gaze—everything confirmed that the woman before him was the same thief they had encountered in the flower field that afternoon.

But at this moment, both Chu Ping and the thief wore expressions of utter disbelief. "How did you... find this place?"

"Since you asked, I’ll give you a piece of advice," Ye Da grinned. "Never provoke someone who keeps wolves. After all, they aren't called 'wolf noses' for nothing! Remember that lesson well, and in your next life, try not to touch other people's property!"

"You found me by using wolves?" The thief’s eyes widened. But as her ears caught the sound of the pouring rain outside, she quickly shook her head. "No, the rain is too heavy; any scent would have been washed away long ago. You couldn't have found me!"

"Uh-huh, and then what?" Ye Da had no intention of debating with her; in his eyes, she was already a dead person. What was the point of discussing the truth with a corpse?

"And then?" The thief stood up with a smile. "Do you think I’m just going to surrender?"

"I have two people and two wolves here. Are you sure you want to fight?" Ye Da looked at her battle-ready posture and laughed. "Do you think you can win?"

"I don't know if I can win, but I believe that if you give up without fighting, you're destined to lose for the rest of your life!" The woman's expression was calm—whether it was a facade or her natural temperament, it was hard to tell. "Besides, who says I'm guaranteed to lose?"